Overseas development
Traditional Chinese medical science relies largely on herbal medications to prevent and help the human body fight ailments, relieve pain and restore health. It also adopts therapies such as acupuncture, blood letting and medical massage.
Yang Zhen, an associate professor in pharmacology at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said acupuncture has become popular in many countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
"Acupuncture has been accepted in American society as it has proved effective in many cases, and acupuncture services are available in many big hospitals in the U.S.," said Yang, who is also a licensed acupuncturist in California.
Acupuncture can cure many diseases that modern medicine fails to handle, such as in alleviating vomiting after chemotherapy for cancer patients and easing the side effects caused by taking painkillers, he said.
"Many big insurance companies have included acupuncture treatment to attract more people," he said. "In many states, the US government medical insurance plans also cover acupuncture."
California alone has an estimated 15,000 acupuncturists, most of them non-Asians who serve not only Chinese but also others, Yang said.
However, compared with acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine is not well accepted in the US, according to Yang.
Medical insurance plans do not pay for TCM expenses, which affects the popularity of TCM, he said.
China will make greater efforts to promote overseas development of traditional Chinese medicine and medical care in the next five years, according to a national plan released by the State Council in April.
According to the plan, China will encourage reputable TCM enterprises and medical institutions to set up hospitals or clinics to provide services to locals.
The government will also take measures to nurture big enterprises that provide TCM service internationally, and encourage TCM colleges in China to intensify international cooperation and provide TCM education overseas, according to the plan.
Lu from the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine called for more government funding on international cooperative projects initiated by Chinese universities and research institutes. For example, government subsidies cover less than one-tenth of the huge expenses on the cooperative project with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
More importantly, the Chinese government should promote the legalization of TCM practitioners in other countries, like Australia did in 2012, Lu said.
"Legalization can protect the rights of overseas TCM practitioners and also supervise their behavior. It will spoil the reputation of TCM if some unqualified or inexperienced practitioners work underground without legal supervision overseas," she said.
"Also, the Chinese government should ask foreign countries to set standards on developing and registering Chinese patent drugs together, rather than using their own standards to assess our products," Lu added.
"TCM may break the fortress and enter the mainstream markets overseas in five to 10 years if the government can create such a favorable environment."
The first Chinese medicine center to train doctors in Central and Eastern Europe - the Czech Chinese Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Prague - was opened in June.
It is a joint project by Shuguang Hospital, affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the University Hospital Hradec Kralove.
In June, the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency also accepted an application for approval of Isatis Cold and Flu Relief, based on Radix isatidis (banlangen in Chinese).
The application to sell the popular Chinese medicine in the UK was submitted by Phynova, based in Oxford, in collaboration with TCM manufacturer Xiangxue Pharmaceuticals.
It could take the agency 210 days to make the decision. The application sends a positive signal for companies making TCM products, analysts say, following the UK's decision in 2013 to stop selling unlicensed herbal medicines by the end of that year.
